When well-known dive adventure company Dive Tutukaka needed to repower its 16m passenger vessel Calypso it sought the guidance and advise of Sean Scott Davidson and Dereck Fortune from Marine & Industrial Rebuilds Ltd (MiR) of Whangarei.
Originally, the thought was to rebuild the existing engines and gearboxes. But as is often the case with marine diesels, when the costs to bring the engines and gearboxes back to a reliable standard were closely looked at, the numbers didn’t really make sense for a commercial operation that needs reliability and low operating costs.
Sean explains, “After careful consideration of the vessel performance requirements, ongoing operating costs and capital outlay, the FPT engines stood out as one of the best options to present to our customer". Working closely with Adrian Penman from AB Equipment Marine & Industrial (Formerly Lees Group) several FPT possibilities would have worked for the "Calypso" repower - a comprehensive analysis of each option gave everyone full transparency of the different options and what to expect.
The final decision saw the install of twin FPT N67 450hp engines derated to a commercial setting and mated to a new ZF transmission; deemed the best fit and within the surveyed capacity of the running gear meaning costs didn’t blow out for the owners.
Penman said, this is a good example of doing the homework upfront and properly matching the engine, transmission and propeller to a particular hull. For Calypso, this has resulted in performance gains despite less horsepower and reduced fuel consumption, all from a repower package that was a lower capital outlay compared to the other options considered.
Combining the in-house engineering capabilities at MiR and turnkey engine package from AB Equipment Marine & Industrial Power the installation was completed relatively quickly, and Calypso is back on the water taking lucky punters out to the Poor Knights Marine Reserve and surrounding areas.
For more information, contact:
Adrian Penman | Application & Sales Engineer – Marine Power Products MO: +64 272 131 495
AB Equipment Marine & Industrial Power
